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Elinor
Wilcox, who taught art in Springfield, MA, schools for
more than 30 years, lives at Reeds Landing, a retirement home in
Springfield. She reports that except for poor eyesight, she is quite
well and enjoying life among many friends.
At 98 (and probably one of Skidmore’s oldest alumnae), I feel
privileged to recount some details of life on campus in the 1920s.
Skidmore was struggling for recognition in the community of older,
established colleges for women, while charting its own groundbreaking
course, by offering a number of classes preparing women for business
and the professions in addition to its liberal arts curriculum.
When I arrived on campus in 1923, Skidmore had just become a four-year
baccalaureate institution—a bold advance from the original
Young Women’s Industrial Club (which later became the Skidmore
School of Arts), conceived and founded by Lucy Skidmore Scribner
to train young women in the practical arts and skills for self-support.
For the complete text of my recollection of Skidmore in the 1920s,
visit “A Senior Among Seniors Looks Back” at www.skidmore.edu/alumni/alumniaffairs/index.htm.